Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Mythbusters

Today, I wanted to get to the bottom of a couple myths, Jamie and Adam style.

Myth 1: VAFOODHEAD, EVERYTHING YOU MAKE PROBABLY TASTES DELICIOUS. MIDAS TOUCH, BABY!BUSTEDDDD. Nah. Everyone makes sub-par food sometimes. Maybe you forget to add an ingredient, maybe you add too much. Maybe you bake an item so long that it burns or turns dry. I experience all of these things and more weekly. Yesterday, I made brownies using a random recipe online and it turned out dry, crumbly and weird. I set a fire alarm off a few days ago. You get my drift, yeah?

Myth 2: vafoodhead, you must eat such gourmet meals all the time! you've got skeelz.BUSTED, on both accounts. Most of the time, for my meals, I eat whatever's around or whatever's easy. Yesterday, I had spaghetti noodles with a scrambled egg, tomato and onion mixture. With a slice of American cheese on top.
Yeah. Sounds gross, tastes ok. And yes, I'm okay with American cheese product. Also, I don't think I have special "skills"-- I just enjoy cooking.

Tonight, I had rice and a basic Korean side dish (or banchan- 반찬) that's called gyeran jorim (계란조림, meaning egg + simmered in a sauce). It's pretty much boiled eggs cooked with soy sauce, garlic, and a little sugar. Quick and easy, and one of my childhood favorites. Threw some rice in the cooker while I boiled some eggs. Usually, food cooked in the "jorim" preparation is simmered/braised in a soy sauce base for a long period of time. The most popular jorim dish uses a tough cut of beef that's cooked until tender and permeated with soy sauce. The way I cook my gyeran jorim, though, is a quick way I've seen my family do it. The sweet-salty combo of the side dish really goes well with a bowl of plain rice. Mm.

1. Heat up a pan and add about a 1:4 ratio of soy sauce and water (seriously, just eyeball it. You can't really mess up). Then, add sugar to taste. You want the liquid to come more than halfway up the eggs, so some white is still peeking out. Bring to a simmer.
2. Once the liquid is simmering, add everything else and simmer while stirring for at least 10 minutes, or until the white of the eggs is a brownish hue and the sauce has reduced. The eggs break up easily, so be careful when swirling/tossing the pan to coat the eggs with the soy sauce mixture.
Feel free to garnish with sliced scallions or toasted sesame seeds. Can be eaten hot, room temp or cold. I like it warm.

And that's it! See, my dinners aren't crazy complicated. And thankfully, this one turned out deliciously.